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2021-09-07 Supplemental Memo_Redacted - Item 8.c1 Patrick Holub From:Jami Fordyce Sent:Tuesday, September 7, 2021 3:57 PM To:pc publiccomment Subject:In Support of Appeal of vacation rental permit for 1170 Linda Follow Up Flag:Follow up Flag Status:Flagged Dear Planning Commission: I live next door to 1170 Linda, and am one the appellants in case 21-002. I am writing in support of our appeal, and it is my hope that you will deny the vacation rental permit issued to 1170 Linda. I also ask the Planning Commission to review staff's protocols, checks and balances, and the City's fee schedule for appeals. The City has admitted to many staff errors in this case, and yet despite this, has failed to take accountability and deny the permit. The City has also made egregious errors that have worked to hinder constituent participation, and have also acted inappropriately in ways to silence and mitigate our appeal. When we received the postcard indicating a vacation rental permit issued for 1170 Linda, we and our neighbors were all disappointed that the home would not be occupied by actual neighbors and community members. We were also collectively disappointed that a permanent full time vacation rental would take away one more housing option for a local family, which actively goes against the City's own housing goals and interests. We live across from Ocean View Elementary, a great school. Having a long term rental home in our neighborhood would allow for more diversity in our neighborhood and school community, which the school and City desperately need. A few points I would like the Commission to consider in this appeal: Appeal Fee: On July 16th, 2021 I called the City to inquire about the appeal process, and was told by Shayna that the fee would be $1500.00. I was shocked. I asked if neighbors could all contribute to the fee, and was told yes. On July 20, 2021, I received a voice mail from Gina that the fee would actually be $1100.00. I was still shocked. Upon reading through a vacation home appeal for Zagota Way, we saw an appellant mention a $491.00 appeal fee that all neighbors went in on together. On July 22nd, I called Patrick at the Planning Department, and asked where $491.00 came from. He told me the appeal fee was actually $491.00. So, in a week, the appeal fee went from $1500.00 to $491.00. Most constituents would be deterred by $1500.00. We live in a time when most families are receiving monthly payments from the government to help with care for their children. $1500.00 for a family is a lot, if not impossible. The City is victimizing constituents in this way with abhorrent appeal fees. Additionally, none of this information is made available online, and multiple staff have multiple understandings of the fee schedule. This is not helpful, and actively works against constituents inquiring about and seeking appeals. Perjury: I called and spoke with Patrick regarding Ashley Collins (the original "local" contact) not living at the address listed in Grover Beach. He asked how I knew that. I told him that we ran a background search on her and found that her business, home, cars and permanent address are located in Tulare. Her children attend school there. She is not a resident of Grover Beach. She owns a permanent vacation home booked out on Airbnb through 2023. The information Corina supplied effectively manipulated the process in order to falsify that she met the permit 2 requirements, when in fact she did not. Corina works as a forensic auditor for the District Attorney's office in Tulare. She has a full understanding of perjury, and yet, when I brought this information to the City, they did not care. That is not only disappointing, but also gives everyone zero faith in the City's integrity to follow the rules and carry out their jobs. In fact, it was not the first time that Corina failed to supply a local contact. In an email from Patrick, she was advised to supply a different contact, other than a friend in SLO, as it was more than 15 minutes drive and would be grounds for a successful appeal if left that way. After I spoke with Patrick, he called Corina AGAIN to tell her that she needed to give a new local contact, for the third try. This is collusion. Patrick also told Corina that we were appealing. This is collusion. We were in fact not appellants, since we had not submitted an appeal, nor had we paid a monstrous fee. We are left feeling victimized by the City actively working to collude against us for the sake of not being transparent or having the integrity to admit and correct mistakes they have made. The applicant for the vacation home permit DOES NOT meet the requirements, but here we are $491.00 out of our pocket, asking the Commission to vote in support of our appeal, because the City will not follow its own procedures and rules. Appeal Date: We filed our appeal on July 22, 2021, yet the City continued to add new information to 1170 Linda's permit, effectively creating a new permit. This is grounds for denial. We are again dismayed by the City's inability to follow their own procedures and rules. Megan's Law/School community: We have hundreds of children who walk to and from, and are picked up from parents in front of our house, since we live across from the school crosswalk. We even have a morning and afternoon crossing guard who diligently halts hoards of traffic so that children can cross the road safely. We live on a one way street, where everyone puts their trash containers on our side of the street so that the garbage company can accommodate the one way traffic. We do not have room for neighbors to leave their trash out for longer than necessary, because then parents have nowhere to park to pick students up. On that note, 1170 Linda does not put their trash out every week, and does not put it in the same day of collection. We are concerned about sexual and violent offenders living next to us, no matter the short amount of time they may be here. Lucia Mar School District is also concerned, because they are installing a new Raptor security screening process in the schools, starting at Ocean View. When we bought our home, we looked at the map to make sure there were no registered sex offenders living nearby. We are two women, raising two young daughters, and these are things that cross our minds. This is something that crosses the minds of most parents. We want to control the safety measures put in place around our most vulnerable as much as possible. Every parent wants this for their children and community. As a woman, I have been sexually assaulted, so to hear the City tell us that they do not believe Megan's Law applies to vacation rentals within 1,000 feet of a school is worrisome, shortsighted, and puts the City at risk for negligence. Let's also acknowledge the fact that male staffers are the ones that relayed this information. Women and young girls have different experiences than men and boys, and I want the commission to think about this gendered discrepancy in decision making and planning. Our appeal should be granted, and the City needs to address their failures and discrepancies in information and procedures, or else constituents will continue to be victimized by inaccurate access to information that prohibits them from participating in this public process. I welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues further. Sincerely, Jami Fordyce 3 1180 Linda Drive 1 Patrick Holub From:Jami Fordyce Sent:Tuesday, September 7, 2021 4:01 PM To:pc publiccomment Subject:Typo in Agenda for tonight Follow Up Flag:Follow up Flag Status:Flagged Dear Planning Commission, I would like to bring your attention to a typo on the agenda for tonight. The email address for public comment is spelled incorrectly. Since it is a hyperlink, many people who click on it to submit comment will not be able to send their public comments, hence hindering publication participation in this process even more so than it already has been. Thank you, Jami Fordyce